*Mr. Gurganus is not licensed to practice law. His activities are directly supervised by members of the firm licensed to practice law.

Steve Gurganus is an adept land use planner whose background includes private and public sector project development experience. As a principal planner, he assists clients and firm attorneys with rezoning, variance, and special and conditional use permit applications, presentations, interpretations, and appeals. He also provides land planning and transportation consultation services to individual and institutional property owners including commercial, multi-family, and mixed-use developers, lenders, schools, industry, and small and mid-size colleges and universities.

Working independently, and with Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys, Steve interacts directly with local, state, and federal governmental staff, boards, and commissions. He reviews Comprehensive Plans and Zoning Codes, leads text change efforts to amend plans and codes, and holds community meetings.

Steve has managed and developed private commercial projects from concept development to movein. He was a community planner, and then team leader, at the North Carolina Department of Transportation for 10 years. While there, he also scoped projects, managed numerous consultant contracts, and coordinated with state and federal agencies. A certified NEPA practitioner, real estate broker, and a certified plant professional, Steve helps clients navigate and respond to complicated land use, infrastructure, and transportation matters.

Professional Activities

  • American Planning Association
  • American Institute of Certified Planners
  • Real Estate License, NC Real Estate Commission
  • Certified Plant Professional, NC Nursery & Landscape Association
  • Certified Studio Producer and Field Producer, City of Raleigh Community Television

Experience

Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.

  • Successfully rezoned land for a major multi-family and mixed use project, and rezoned land for single family residential development in the face of community opposition.
  • Served as liaison between a private college and the North Carolina Department of Transportation to review and respond to significant project-related impacts and right-of-way, eminent domain taking. Steve co-wrote and edited a report that successfully expanded the college’s eligible historic district under guidelines for the National Register of Historic Places.
  • Satisfactorily assessed and resolved zoning and nonconformity issues for commercial, office, institutional, and energy projects in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee on behalf of developers, buyers, and commercial lenders.
  • Assessed current land use, and future land use options, for a property owner to evaluate expanding entitlements for much higher density development in a downtown urban area.
  • Assessed effects of a proposed high impact land use adjacent to a large office institutional property and successfully proposed measures to minimize and mitigate the impacts.